DAILY MAIL COMMENT: What a way to repay our VJ Day heroes

The Mail takes great pride in the part we played in ensuring that Saturday’s 70th anniversary of VJ Day was properly marked, after the Government seemed content almost to ignore it.

After pressure from our campaign, moving events were held across the country, while the stories of the veterans, bemedalled and wheelchair-bound, were a powerful reminder of how much we owe to those who went through hell in the jungles and prison camps of the Far East.

So how deeply distasteful it was of South West Trains to cash in on the commemorations by excluding Saturday from a cheap ticket offer running throughout the rest of August.

Pleading the mealy-mouthed excuse of our age, a company spokesman says: ‘Safety is our main priority.’ How ironic that must sound to those who braved the vicious Japanese war machine!

Heroes: Veterans march past the Cenotaph on Whitehall on Saturday as events in London marked the 70th anniversary of victory over Japan in the Second World War

Fares were increased, she explains, to discourage overcrowding on a day when large numbers would be using the network to attend special events.

The upshot was that the heroes, their families and others who wanted simply to thank them were stung for up to three times the promotional fare.

What monstrous ingratitude to those who sacrificed so much for our freedom and democracy.

If the firm was seriously concerned to avoid overcrowding, couldn’t it have put on extra trains? And if it had an ounce of respect for the debt we all owe, wouldn’t it have lowered fares for the day, instead of increasing them?

Fuel for the hard-Left

The hard-Left Socialism preached by Labour’s front-runner Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) would be an unmitigated disaster for Britain

Anyone mystified by the rise of Jeremy Corbyn should look no further than today’s survey of chief executives’ rocketing pay.

Nobody believes more strongly than the Mail that the hard-Left Socialism preached by Labour’s front-runner would be an unmitigated disaster for Britain.

Indeed, wherever politicians have tried to translate Marx’s theories into government policy, from the Soviet Union to Venezuela, they’ve spread hardship and misery – with the poorest suffering most.

But no wonder Labour activists demand radical solutions, when the High Pay Centre finds the bosses of our top 100 firms earn almost £5million a year each.

That’s a staggering 183 times the average worker’s annual salary of £27,000.

You don’t have to be a Bolshevik to find this huge disparity offensive. For in most cases, it owes nothing to merit – and everything to the greed of mutually back-scratching remuneration committees.

Even ardent champions of capitalism will be appalled that chief executives have helped themselves to an extra £800,000 each, over four years in which they’ve imposed minimal increases or pay freezes on their employees.

As most Britons are intelligent enough to see, Corbynite Socialism is no answer. But while the boardroom pay racket continues, the enemies of capitalism will never be starved of support.

A duty to our friends

Days ago, this paper revealed how an Afghan interpreter, denied asylum in Britain, was targeted by the Taliban after being seen working for David Cameron.

Today, we highlight the cases of others – including ‘Chris’, who translated for Gordon Brown and the SAS – who’ve turned to people smugglers in their desperation to escape revenge attacks.

Of course, Britain cannot give refuge to everyone who, in the words of the 1951 convention, has a ‘well-founded fear of persecution’ – which could now embrace a quarter of the world’s population.

But don’t we have an overwhelming moral obligation to those whose lives are in danger solely because they served our country?

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South West Trains ticket price hike for VJ Day isn't the way to remember our heroes